If your business is serious about export growth and scaling, then the US market needs to be in the consideration set - due to the share scale of the market. For example, the US Department of Defence is the largest buyer of IT and computer hardware in the world.

In the technology and engineering space, when making decisions around exporting, the challenge is deciding what to actually export. In a mature market like the US, a simple transfer of resources from one country to another is not really a strategy, unless it is very highly specialisedand unique.

What do successful exporters to the US market do?

Innovation – they are leading the way with specialist technologies and solutions that are unique to the market.

Market niche – they don’t try and dominate a market initially. They have identified the market position, sector, partner, and regional focus.

A clear and committed strategy for market growth – they have a system that incorporates their solution. They are very clear on the customer problem they solve and the associated benefits and return on investment for the customer.

Partners – most are using established and reputable US-based businesses as market channel partners and also to leverage their solutions as part of joint proposals to clients.

Joint venture funding or being acquired – the business is raising capital via their partners to test proof of concept initially, leading to full acquisition once they are established in the market.

For Height, the trip to the States gave us plenty to think about, and also the confidence to genuinely start to explore this significant market.